The present invention relates generally to the mounting of an article to a rod. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adjustable mounting arrangement configured to releasably secure an article such as a fishing reel by its mounting foot/feet to a fishing rod.
There are a number of ways to releasably attach an article to a rod such as a fishing pole. Typically, an article such as a reel is attached to the rod by two hoods or clamps adapted to accept mounting feet carried on the article. Normally, a first hood is permanently fixed to the rod and a second hood is arranged for reciprocating motion on the rod in a way that allows the distance between the two hoods to be increased or decreased for mounting, securing or releasing the article with respect to the rod as required by the user.
Examples of such conventional mounting arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,069,977; 2,656,639; and 3,732,644 as each relates to fishing poles and reels. As can be appreciated, the weight balance of the article and rod/reel arrangement is controlled by the placement of the fixed hood. Ultimately, the location of an article and the weight balance is predetermined by the manufacturer.
Manufacturers have offered multiple predetermined mounting positions by adding a number of hood pairs in one of the pairs is fixed and the other is moveable with respect to the rod. An example of such a solution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,644. However, the number of mounting positions is a function of an article""s mounting foot length and the hood lengths. While one of the hoods of the pair is moveable, the combination pair is not variably positionable on the fishing rod; that is, the position of reels attached using this arrangement will always be at the same location relative to the fishing rod.
As depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,644, that invention""s mounting of an article is limited to two positions on the rod due to the arrangement of the fixed and slidable hoods. Any advantage gained by the multiple fixed hood arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,644, however, is at the expense of adding a number of hoods which in turn increases the complexity and weight of the rod and reel combination. Although the user is presented with a selection of at least two mounting positions, again these positions are predetermined by the manufacturer and controlled by the original and permanent placement of the fixed hoods. In other words, there is no variable positioning made available to the end user; typically a fisherman who often desires to fine tune the balance of the rod and reel combination for optimizing his or her fishing activities.
Conventional securing arrangements, as disclosed by the patents identified above, limit the balance and feel of the arrangement to the fisherman by fixing the accessory at predetermine locations upon the rod. As a result, such devices may be unsuitable for users who prefer to adjust the mounting position of the reel to achieve a customized weight balance and feel personally prescribed. Because of the need for a variously adjustable attachment device for fishing rods, and the fact that have been known before, the opportunity exists for being a sole provider of a mounting arrangement which is not limited to predetermined fixed mounting positions, but instead is variously and continuously adjustable at the end user""s discretion.
In view of the above described deficiencies associated with the use of known fixed attachment arrangements for accessories, and especially fishing reels to fishing rods, the present invention has been developed to alleviate these drawbacks and provide further benefits to the user. These enhancements and benefits are described in greater detail hereinbelow with respect to several alternative embodiments of the present invention.
The present invention in its several disclosed embodiments alleviates the drawbacks described above with respect to conventional stationary attachment devices for fishing reels to fishing rods and incorporates several additionally beneficial features by providing a light weight, corrosion resistant, continuously adjustable and user configurable attachment arrangement for mounting accessories to fishing rods. The adjustable attachment arrangement of the present invention comprises at least one mounting zone located above and/or below a handle portion of a fishing rod and at least one anchor arrangement that is adapted for attaching at least one article to the rod at one of the mounting zones. For each article such as a fishing reel to be mounted to the fishing rod, a corresponding anchor arrangement is provided and adapted to mount that article to the rod at a mounting zone. Each anchor arrangement is configured for longitudinal displacement across at least a portion of a respective mounting zone. This allows the operator to adjust the position of the article, such as a reel, with respect to the rod.
An added benefit of the present invention, at least according to one preferred embodiment, is the accommodation of gross and/or micro adjustments of the position of the reel both longitudinally, as well as possibly radially, with respect to the fishing rod. Moreover, the nature of the enabled adjustment is continuous over a predetermined range thereby enabling fine tuning of the mounting position relative to the rod.
The beneficial effects described above apply generally to each of the exemplary devices and mechanisms disclosed herein as they relate to the mounting of fishing reels to fishing rods. The specific structures through which these benefits are delivered will be described in detail hereinbelow.